Speedy Weeknight Dinner – Chicken Enchiladas

Life is busy but uneventful these days – get up, go to work, work, come home, feed the animals, cook, eat, crash on the couch, go to bed and start over. Mike and I are crazy busy at work, my company has its last quarter of the fiscal year and the already busy schedule gets even more busy if that’s even possible. But I have decided I will be all American with regards to having a positive outlook on a bleak quota situation and tell myself everything is possible – even though I am WAY behind my quota – I still believe in miracles :-).

Spring for sure is here, it was 82 degrees on Friday and the perfect time this weekend to get the garden and greenhouse in shape. Most of the plants have been planted and now I am waiting for my first harvest for this year. Gardening for me is more therapy than really knowing what I am doing, it just feels good to put something into the ground, hope it will grow and then be able to eat your own home grown food.

Speaking of not having a lot of time to spare, I decided a while ago to employ a “Stylist and Clothing service” called Stichfix, where you receive 5 pieces of clothes 1x or 2x a month (your choice) by mail. So far I have found some really nice outfits and it saves me a lot of time not having to drive to Seattle or Bellevue on the weekend and make my way through ultra packed shopping malls and instead tell “my stylist” what I am looking for and try on the pieces in the comfort of my home and on my schedule. Here a few examples of what I have gotten from Stichfix.

So its only fitting that I am posting a recipe that you can make on a busy weekday night and save yourself some time to relax with a glass of wine on your couch; deck or garden.

CREAM CHEESE CHICKEN ENCHILADAS – makes 6 portions

Ingredients:

3 oz. reduced fat cream cheese, softened

1/2 cup light sour cream

12 – 15 oz. of enchilada sauce (depending how “saucy” you like it)

1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese, divided

1/2 cup shredded Monterey jack cheese, divided

2 cups cooked shredded chicken – I bought Rotisserie chicken and that works perfect and saves a LOT of time.

3/4 cup canned corn (drained)

4 oz. can diced green chilies

1/2 tsp chili powder

1/4 tsp cumin

1 teaspoon Mexican hot sauce – or use more chili powder if you don’t have Mexican hot sauce – or leave it out if you don’t like your food too hot

Salt and pepper

4 scallions, thinly sliced (which btw. I left out)

8 (8-inch) whole wheat tortillas

Optional: Avocado, Mexi Rice, Refried Beans

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees. Spray a 9×13 dish with cooking spray.

In the bowl cream together the cream cheese, sour cream, Mexican hot sauce, and 1/2 of the enchilada sauce. Stir in 1/4 cup of each type of cheese. You can use more cheese if you like, I reduced it from 1/2 to 1/4 as I thought the filling was too rich.

In a second bowl toss together the chicken, corn, cumin, chili powder, salt and pepper, green chiles, and half of the scallions. Add the chicken mixture to the cheese mixture and combine well.

Spread about half of the remaining enchilada sauce in the bottom of the baking dish.

Spoon the filling into each tortilla, roll the tortilla up, and place in the baking dish with the seam down. Pour the remaining enchilada sauce over the top of the filled tortillas and sprinkle with the remaining cheese. Bake for 20-25 minutes or until hot and bubbly. Sprinkle with the remaining scallions and serve. I like to serve the Enchiladas with Mexican rice refried beans and slices of Avocado.